The Yellow & Blue Podcast | Something Old, Something New: Building and Preserving History at SDSU | S1E4

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South Dakota State University’s campus is 387 acres and is home to more than 160 buildings. It’s a place where thousands of faculty, staff and students live, work and learn every day. For Facilities and Services, SDState operates like “a city within a city.” Dozens of workers spend countless hours cleaning, servicing and maintaining campus and its operations. 
 
Campus has evolved throughout time and has grown considerably in recent history. According to Facilities and Services, since 2010, 30 buildings have been constructed, enhancing the student experience. New residence halls, academic buildings, athletic facilities and agriculture structures are now an integral part of the SDSU experience. 
 
Facilities and Services has also been able to oversee the renovation or revitalization of some of our more historic campus buildings. Recent projects include iconic structures like Lincoln Hall, First Bank & Trust Arena and the Coughlin Campanile. 
 
In this episode of “The Yellow & Blue Podcast,” Dave Law, director of project management and engineering for Facilities and Services, takes us through campus operations and recent building projects. We also dive into some of the history of our favorite buildings at SDState. 
 
Transcript:
[Dave] 
I mean, we all know and we talk about frequently the importance of the campus appearance for recruitment and retention and experience. And we recognize how important that is. And we take a lot of pride in in the things that we do. 
 
[Heidi] 
Hello, Jackrabbits Nation. My name is Heidi Bushong, and this is the Yellow & Blue Podcast. Today, we stepped outside of the studio, and we are in historic, beautiful Lincoln Hall. On the show with me today is Dave Law. He is director of project management and engineering for Facilities and Services at SDSU. We're going to talk about recent building projects on campus, like Lincoln Hall recently renovated, and we're going to dive into a little bit of history of these buildings and see what it truly takes to operate South Dakota State University. 
 
[Heidi] 
Thank you so much for being with me here today, Dave. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Thank you for having me. 
 
[Heidi] 
SDSU’s campus, to me, it's a big campus, 387 acres, more than 160 buildings on campus. What does it really take to keep campus running? As we like to say over in marketing, it's like a city within a city. 
 
[Dave] 
That's very true. It is. It's truly a city within a city. The Facilities and Services group alone is a huge part of keeping this campus running. We do recognize it's more than that, but it takes, we have 100 and I think almost 190 FTEs, almost 90 custodians. We have almost 50 people in our maintenance division. We have teams of project managers and planners. 
 
[Dave] 
We have people that run our HVAC systems and our chiller plant and our heating plan to keep the heat in the winter and keep the buildings cool in the summer. I mean, it's a big staff in the in. The great part about it is while you see a lot of it, there's a lot people don't see also. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, exactly. Let's talk a little bit about the things that people don't see. You know, people think that, you know, utilities and clean rooms kind of just appear and they don't really. 
 
[Dave] 
No, not at all. They actually, the custodial team is a big part of keeping these buildings shiny and clean, and they really do a great job. The staff kind of ebbs and flows between, you know, having a full staff or a part staff just because of the labor market and some of those challenges. But even when there are shorter staff, they keep these buildings shiny and clean. 
 
[Dave] 
They work in three different shifts. So, we have almost a 24-hour coverage with some form of custodians on campus. We have custodians that work overnight. Some start their shifts at five the morning, and then some start their shifts at three in the afternoon, you know, the 3 to 11 p.m. timeframe. And they're in every building. 
 
[Dave] 
And so not only do they clean the buildings, they're also the eyes and ears in every building. So, they report back a lot of the issues we have. Bring it to the maintenance team or the project management team. So, we can either make it a project or take care of it. So, they do a lot, they do a lot, and they really go unseen quite often. 
 
[Heidi] 
Absolutely. In terms of the custodial side, you had a really fun statistic about how much they truly clean each shift. Can you tell me what that is? 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, our our director, Troy Syhre, really likes to give the statistic that each custodian, if you just break it down by the FTE and the square footage on campus, they're responsible for the cleaning the equivalent of roughly 13 single-family homes per person, per each custodian. So roughly 33,000 square feet, you know, per night or day, whichever shift they're on is what each individual is responsible for. 
 
[Dave] 
So it's a little bit staggering to think that they can do that much
 
[Heidi] 
I don't know how they do it. Like my house is 2,800 square feet, and I can't keep that clean. I have no idea how they do it. 
 
[Dave] 
It's challenging for sure. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, we see them work really hard every day. And, you know, it's not just that, we also have groundskeepers. 
 
[Dave] 
We do. Yep. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. Tell me a little bit about that. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. The, I think you rattled off the stat of almost 390 acres of grounds that they take care of. So, the grounds team, you know, this time of year, obviously, on, especially this year where it's very wet, they're nonstop mowing. You know, they're on the mowers nonstop and trimming and weeding and doing and doing the things to keep up with just the growth. 
 
[Dave] 
But they're also, you know, maintaining the flower beds. They're, they do a lot of things that you probably don't think of, whether it's just, you know, general cleaning in the grounds. And they might be moving barricades around for events. And just like the custodians, they're also the eyes and ears out in the grounds and in the field that report back to a lot of the others. 
 
[Dave] 
And then, of course, in the winter, they're moving snow. And depending on the year, that's a massive undertaking as well. And so, they're a busy team as well. 
 
[Heidi] 
For sure, and other than maintaining campus, another big part of Facilities and Services is the Customer Service Center. For people who don't know what that is, can you tell me tell us a little bit about it. 
 
[Dave] 
Our Customer Service Center is, I think, the biggest thing that they probably do that touches all of campus is they handle all of the U.S. Mail. So, any U.S. Mail that comes into campus flows through the Customer Service Center and then is dispersed out to campus. And that's a lot. 
 
[Heidi] 
And collected. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. That's right. So that's a big undertaking there alone. And then we are a central receiving. So, a lot of the, the shipments that come into campus come into the Customer Service Center and then the team basically has to deliver those out to campus. So that might be FedEx, that might be UPS, maybe may be Amazon. That's a very challenging one. 
 
[Dave] 
I'm having to deal with some of the Amazon orders and then the Customer Service Center also maintains a warehouse with inventory that helps support, you know, all of the maintenance needs. And then, some of the construction. You know, that's a big thing to have, too. So. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, absolutely. Truly thankful for Facilities and Services on this campus. They do a lot of thankless work. 
 
[Dave] 
For sure. 
 
[Heidi] 
For sure. Is there anything else that you would want people to know about the Facilities and Services department? 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, I think some of the other behind the scenes, you know, the maybe the unsung heroes, the people you don't always see or hear, you know, the back to the maintenance team. You know, there's also teams of electricians, there's teams of plumbers, there's HVAC and energy systems technicians. You know, again, they keep the lights on to keep the buildings cool and respond to things when it's a cold call or a hot call. 
 
[Dave] 
You know, we have a welding and mechanic shop that's a full-service fabrication shop. So, he's always got a team working on, maybe there's some fabrication that athletics needs to fix a fence or who knows what it is. They can bring almost anything to us. And, so, there's a lot of things that people probably don't even understand or don't realize. 
 
[Dave] 
I should say that we have for services and that we do. Certainly a big one is the HVAC and energy systems team. You know, they're in every building also. And I think people, if it's working well, they take for granted, you know, their space is comfortable. If it's not working well, then obviously, you know we're on call. 
 
[Heidi] 
They let you know it. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. So, a lot of these things I'm mentioning are the, if you don't see us and hear us, I guess we're doing our job well. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, that's a good point. Going into some work that Facilities and Services gets to work with other contractors on is, building and renovating buildings, which is something that people always love to hear about. Is what's new going up on campus. You know what? What are they doing with that building? How are they renovating it? So, let's talk a little bit about that. 
 
[Heidi] 
You've been here a while. Campus has changed a lot in that time. What, in what ways has it changed? 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, I was a student here from 1994 to 1998. Left for a couple of years, and I came back, and I was hired here in October of 2000, so I. Yeah, I've been around campus for, you know, 30 years now, and it's changed a lot. I mean, if anyone who comes and goes realizes that you know, if you were gone for any five-year period, you know, from about 2004 to today, it's changed drastically. 
 
[Dave] 
And that's just on the buildings and grounds side of things where you see, we build new residence halls, we build new academic buildings, a lot of new laboratory buildings. Certainly, on the athletic side, we've had some substantial expansion. You know, I look back, I take a look at myself and my perception of it. 
 
[Dave] 
It's been more of a slow evolution because I've been here for all of it. I'm sure that people who haven't been here, it can be shocking. I'm sure. And impressive. 
 
[Heidi] 
I probably looks completely different. 
 
[Dave] 
In much. Yeah. Way different. Yeah. We've closed roads. You know, that's been a slightly controversial walking campus. Now, you know. Yeah. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. So, let's talk about some new buildings a little bit. Since 2010, there have been approximately 30 new buildings built on campus. And, you know, it's a pretty good variety, too, to be honest. You know, you have academic buildings, residence halls, you have athletic facilities, agriculture buildings. Tell me a little bit about some of those newer buildings. 
 
[Heidi] 
I kind of have a few on the list here, like Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center addition, Southeast University Neighborhood, American Indian Student Center, ADRDL addition, Raven Precision Agriculture Center, and then one of the newest ones, the Frank J. Kurtenbach Family Wrestling Center. Right. So, like that, right. There is seven new buildings or additions in the last five years. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, yeah, we we've gone through some cycles of some very busy capital project, while busy capital project cycles where we've had, you know, I have a team of basically seven people, six project managers and an interior designer. And there's been cycles where each individual on my staff and there's others that do this, too, have had, you know, probably two big projects on their list, along with all the other small ones. 
 
[Dave] 
So, it's been nonstop. And if you go back, if you go back to 2010 roughly, which is, I think what you referenced as the example, you know, you could even throw in like the Avera Science building. Yeah, we opened it in 2010, and at the time that was one of the biggest, at least by cost, one of the biggest buildings in South Dakota, the whole state. 
 
[Dave] 
And it was interesting because I was the PM on that, and we built it on the old historic, original part of campus College on the Hill. We kind of built it on the hill. Yeah. And, it was we found a lot of interesting things as we were digging the excavation for the foundations and building that one. So, but yeah, you're right, you listed a lot of them that are more recent to people, but going back that far, you know, the Chicoine AME building is in there. 
 
[Dave] 
Even the Wellness Center expansion. And there's a lot of them that we have done since then. 
 
[Heidi] 
So many buildings that are very integral to student experience today, like so many residence halls. 
 
[Dave] 
Right? Yeah, the residence halls. I think we built a lot of the original residence halls, original in my mind, I guess. you know, the Young, Binnewies, Brown Hall, Mathews Hall were, you know, late ’60s up to mid ’70s vintage buildings, and that was really all we had up until 2003 when we built Caldwell. And then after that we had the expansion of Jackrabbit Grove, Jackrabbit Village, and I think 2009 and 2012. 
 
[Dave] 
And so, I think the total is now we built eight in that time frame, new residence halls and the apartment you reference, the Southeast Apartments. Yeah. The student experience on the southeast corner of campus has changed drastically. 
 
[Heidi] 
Absolutely. Being able to do all of those things, what do you think that says about our university? 
 
[Dave] 
Oh, it's unbelievable. I mean, we, me and my team and the facilities team in general is really just a group that delivers the projects and helps, you know, get the planning done, the building done, the opening of them and running the buildings. But, you know, all of the other work from everybody else to raise the money to, you know, make these projects become reality. 
 
[Dave] 
It's just there's so many amazing people that have been a part of all that. So, I mean, I it's probably been said many times by a lot of people, but it's just incredible what the university has done. And, you know, in the last 10 to 15 years. 
 
[Heidi] 
One thing that I think that SDSU is really good about doing is repurposing and renovating buildings on campus, such as Lincoln, this one. There have been quite a few recent renovation projects. Pierson Hall just was done last year. Larson Commons is underway. Lincoln Hall is like, it was just finished this past fall. 
 
[Heidi] 
Campanile is being done right now. And, we also have First Bank & Trust Arena, so we can dive into some of those in a little bit. Let's talk about Lincoln first, how about, since we're in this beautiful building? For those who don't know what Lincoln was, it was originally built to be the library. And when you're in this building, you can definitely see it and feel it like we're in what's called the reading room right now, which is where, like, all of the bookcases would have been. 
 
[Heidi] 
People reading books, obviously. But, after the library, it transitioned into the Lincoln Music Hall. And then now it's home to the School of American and Global Studies and the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. I was in this building before it was renovated a few times when it was Lincoln Music Hall, and you could tell it was a library. 
 
[Heidi] 
And now that the renovation project has been done, it is absolutely beautiful in here. And all of the cool things like, still exist. Like you can tell, like, the windows have been restored. There's a lot of original molding. The old circulation desk is still here. That thing is, like, nearly a hundred years old. 
 
[Dave] 
And it was important during the design that they did maintain that. That's why this room became what it did. As the old reading room, because, you know, you can talk about programming it into some other type of space, but that would not really be. I mean, it's much better to bring it back to what we see here today and make it what it feels like. 
 
[Dave] 
The old reading room, again, an interesting story about this is the skylights were actually opened up as real skylights above us. They actually were closed off for a while and just, you know, lights up there. But now they open them back up and made them into true skylights again. 
 
[Heidi] 
So all natural light. 
 
[Dave] 
All natural light. Yeah. 
 
[Heidi] 
That's awesome. Well, and, this is a true gem of a building. Like I tell people, if they come into this building, they won't know that they're on South Dakota State University campus because it feels like so much older than some of our buildings. And just the esthetics it does. Right? Yeah, it's. 
 
[Dave] 
It's beautiful the way it frames the green. It's just really a neat setting. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. So many columns. So, if you're an alum and you remember this being the library, you have to come back because so many things are the same but different, right? 
 
[Dave] 
Absolutely. 
 
[Heidi] 
And if you're a student, this place is awesome because, I mean, there's a ton of faculty offices here, making it super accessible to speak with your faculty. But there's a ton of study space in here. There's classrooms, all kinds of good stuff. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah it is. It's modern building. Now with all of the old characteristics that made it so interesting. 
 
[Heidi] 
So absolutely. So, let's talk about like Facilities and Services’ role with a project such as this because we like for a lot of our building projects. We contract someone to complete the work, and then we work with them from the university side. So, tell me how that works. 
 
[Dave] 
We would need a whole series of podcasts to really tell you how that works, because it's very long and convoluted, especially as a state entity. But ultimately, and, you know, the kind of big picture of the 50,000-foot view of that is, you know, project has somewhere along the line, there's some conception for the project to need and then a budget, and it's conceived somewhere, you know, when it hit, by the time it hits our area and we get taking off with it. 
 
[Dave] 
But yeah, you're right. Then you basically go through all the steps of getting a design team on board, the early planning, working with the facilities folks, the stakeholders on the programming, the space. You go through the design process to the point of, then you get to hire the contractor either through a bidding process or a selection process, and then, yeah, then you essentially just go to work. 
 
[Dave] 
And I mean, that is really the Reader's Digest version of it. It doesn't do justice to what really goes on. But yeah, all of those things in a project like this are contracted out where we assign, you know, our project manager and then have some planners in the office that help get through those steps as well. 
 
[Dave] 
All the way through to, you know, even where we're at today. We're about a year into using this building, but there's still a lot of active work by our staff, you know, just loose ends, taking care of some warranty issues and some of those kinds of things. So, it's a very, very long and complex process. This one in particular had a phase one, that did some work inside and then did all of the utility work outside as well. 
 
[Dave] 
And so we had to dig new chilled water lines in to get down to the building. And so we did a lot of things, even leading up to the major project on this one. So it's been about a three-year process, you know, to do all of it. 
 
[Heidi] 
Not to mention like having to like raise the funds for the building, too. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. And yep, that's a big part of these things, too. Yeah. Raising the funds, that is somebody else's world to do. But that is a big part of our success and all of our building. 
 
[Heidi] 
Oh yeah. Absolutely. Anything else you want to add about Lincoln Hall? 
 
[Dave] 
It is an example of, you know, repurposing and rebuilding and renovating an existing building, which we certainly have a good track record of. I mean, Harding Hall is another great example of that, a building a lot of people looked at as an old building, maybe not worth investing in if you walk through that one now and see what we did, you know, it's incredible in there, too. 
 
[Dave] 
So yeah, it's a great example of that we try to do when we can. 
 
[Heidi] 
Absolutely. So, if you're going to come to visit Lincoln Hall and you're not where you're worried, you might not be in the right place if you walk through the door and see the statue of Abraham Lincoln, you know, you're in there is still there. It is still there. For people who are wondering, one project a ton of people are curious about is the renovation of the Coughlin Campanile. 
 
[Dave
Yeah, that's high profile, right? I mean, everyone's curious about that. 
 
[Heidi] 
High profile, literally high profile. 
 
[Dave] 
Literally. yeah. So, for those that are in the area and see what's going on there, obviously the full hydro scaffolding is in place now as we speak. The upper scaffolding which is built on top of that is, I think fully erected now as well. So, we have basically a scaffolding for the workers to get all the way up to the top dome on the Campanile. 
 
[Dave] 
The scope of work. I mean, in the end, at the end of the day, the scope isn't super interesting, really. The main thing that we're working on is the restoration. Yes. So, it's re-tuckpointing all the masonry, which is important. There's a lot of, restoration of the limestone in the stone all the way around from the top and the bottom everywhere you see it. 
 
[Dave] 
And then painting and refinishing, you know, all the metal components. So the windows, the railings and some of those things, they're at the point now with scaffolding just got done. So, they're really just getting started on the work. And it's going to go into, you know, early October. Yeah. To be fully complete. 
 
[Heidi] 
Because I know you had mentioned this before in conversation. They work from the very top down. 
 
[Dave] 
A lot of people ask about the scaffolding specifically. So, one thing they do is they anchor their way up as they're going up to anchor that into the masonry, they take some bricks out and actually anchor it into the structure. And so you can see that when you're out there, how it anchors in. And then as they come down, they work their way down and then pull those out, restore that brick and keep working their way down, down, down. 
 
[Dave] 
So, yeah, it's a top-down process. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yes. And for people who don't know what the Campanile is, in theory, it's a music tower. We're working on that component, but it's made of Bedford limestone and brick, and it's about 165 feet tall. So those workers are taller than 165 feet. Working on the glass dome, working their way down, making sure that everything is structurally sound so it can. 
 
[Dave] 
Right. 
 
[Heidi] 
Remain our campus landmark. 
 
[Dave] 
So, I think it's a good point of interest that we did the same thing about 25 years ago. Yeah. And so it's reasonable to think it probably will have to happen in another 20. I mean, it's a structure that is so iconic and so important. And it's also, you know, area that we have four full seasons. 
 
[Dave] 
It's not a heated structure. So, I mean things just deteriorate. 
 
[Heidi] 
Winter. 
 
[Dave] 
Winters, yeah, the frost cycles. So, this happened about 25 years ago. We're doing it again now. So, we just have to have this on our list. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yes. So it's hoping for October, but you can't climb it right now. 
 
[Dave] 
No, it's off limits to climb right now, unfortunately. I know that's a bummer to a lot of people, but yes. 
 
[Heidi] 
It's definitely a sight to see, though. We see a lot of people driving by this summer checking it out. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, the scaffolding set up right now is definitely a sight to see. It's really an interesting look for that structure. You see a lot of people sharing that information and posting it and talking about it. And it's pretty cool. 
 
[Heidi] 
Absolutely. So, we'll keep you posted on when that project will be finished. Another renovation, I'm going to put it as, that's going on right now is First Bank & Trust Arena, turning Frost Arena into First Bank & Trust Arena. That is a project everybody is curious about. 
 
[Dave] 
I guess maybe my own opinion, which I think everyone will agree with. The transformation we're going to see there is just absolutely incredible. 
 
[Heidi] 
Really leveling it up. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, and athletics and you know, their team and specifically Justin Sell will always say how we're keeping the old feel of Frost. And they really are. Yeah, they are. Like you said, leveling it up is kind of an understatement almost. I mean, between the new arena that we're all going to get to be in, as you watch games to the team rooms and locker rooms that the players get to use now, it's absolutely incredible over there. 
 
[Dave] 
So, we're looking forward to that wrapping up. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, giving a lot of student athletes a better experience there. And the fans. 
 
[Dave] 
And the fans. Absolutely. The fans, yeah. The amenities, the you know, the more bathrooms, which I think a. 
 
[Heidi] 
Lot of people appreciate. Amazing. 
 
[Dave] 
But it's and just the fit and finish, it's going to feel like it's a lot of people ask and I'm not going to be the official authority on this, you know, are we putting more seats in I what's the seating capacity? And the seating capacity really is about the same as it's always been. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. It really is. Yeah. Yes. And they'll go to the floor. People will have their own seats. Yeah. It really is going to be a great project when it's done. I had seen video of Daktronics installing the new board. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. The time lapse that was just recently released is. Yeah, that's. Yeah. That's incredible. 
 
[Heidi] 
I can't wait to see that for sure. It'll be awesome. Yeah. So, we've gotten to either renovate or build new some, quite a few athletic facilities in recent years. And one thing I always hear that I would love to get your perspective on is, why didn't we just tear down and build new? You know, we had the same idea with Frost Arena, First Bank &Trust as we did. 
 
[Heidi] 
Coughlin Alumni to Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. Like obviously cost is a perspective. 
 
[Dave] 
It is. And I guess I mean, if you really step back and look, Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium is new. I mean, we preserved some of the components from cost, because that's important to do. And athletics has some of that on display. But really every square foot of that venue is brand new. The 50-yard line is still the 50-yard line it's always been, but at the same time, everything around that is brand new. 
 
[Dave] 
It was phased, you know, so the old remained in place as we built around it. But that's all new. And then the, the First Bank & Trust Arena. I mean, I think the biggest thing is probably that cost would be so significant, but also, I mean, there's a perfectly serviceable facility there right now that, you know. They were able to design and program into what it's going to be. 
 
[Dave] 
And so I think that even if you had the money to do new, it might have been a real tough evaluation because, I mean, it's going to turn out really nice. 
 
[Heidi] 
Absolutely. And I mean, we've seen it time and time again here on campus, where it's really amazing what construction companies can do. We can take buildings down to brick shells and make something glorious and new out of it, while spending less money. 
 
[Dave] 
That's right. Yeah. I mean, it is. It is. Yes. I've been doing this a long time, and sometimes it does still surprise me. The things that can be accomplished while doing that. 
 
[Heidi] 
So I love to hear that. Excited to see what's to come. If you don't mind, I'd like to start to get into the history section of things. Start talking about some of these buildings. So, what we're going to do is we're going to, I'm going to ask you a true or false question and kind of test your knowledge. 
 
[Heidi] 
Dave already said he's not a historian, so I. 
 
[Dave] 
Don't consider myself a campus historian. 
 
[Heidi] 
So please forgive him. But I kind of did come up with some complicated questions, and you might just learn something new here. So, I have six of them. OK. The first one I know you're going to know the answer to. True or false: There is a tunnel system on campus. 
 
[Dave] 
That is true. Yeah, that is true. There's a tunnel system that services all, runs all of our steam. And … 
 
[Heidi] 
It's not the kind of tunnels people think. 
 
[Dave] 
It's not. It's not the kind of tunnels where we can just walk from building to building in them. You can. I mean, in some cases, you can walk from building to building. 
 
[Heidi] 
Not recommended. 
 
[Dave] 
It's not recommended, and it's not open to the public. 
 
[Heidi] 
Right? Yeah. Facilities and Services is not hiding tunnels for you to walk through. 
 
[Dave] 
No, we are not. We are not. But they're there. And they actually do serve a good purpose. To make sure that we can get the pipes to the building to keep the heat on. And in some cases, the cooling systems, a lot of the fiber optics and some other things that we run through there and 
 
[Heidi] 
Right. Yeah. Because they're primarily steam tunnels. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. That's what we should call them. Steam tunnels. That's really what they are. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yes, exactly. OK. Ready for the next one? True or false? West Hall was once a hospital. 
 
[Dave] 
True. It was once a hospital. It was once a hospital. And there are some components downstairs that resemble, you know, some of the old. 
 
[Heidi] 
Don't tell me that. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. I mean, it was a hospital. I mean, if you walk in the front door today, obviously you would never really know that because it's mostly just an academic, an office building. But it was the Brookings Hospital in its original state and construction. So. 
 
[Heidi] 
Exactly. So fun fact about that. Built in 1907, from 1907 to 1964, it served as the Brookings Hospital, purchased in 1969 to become a residence hall. Before Binnewies and Young halls were finished. They needed extra housing. 
 
[Dave] 
Back when a lot of the housing was actually on that side, with Wecota, Wenona, mentioned on a couple of other dorms that are no longer there. So. 
 
[Heidi] 
OK, next one, true or false? The, the old horticulture building, which is where information technology is, is the oldest building on campus. 
 
[Dave] 
False. It's not technically the oldest building on campus. 
 
[Heidi] 
It's pretty old. 
 
[Dave] 
It's close. It's very close to the oldest. 
 
[Heidi] 
It's built in 1901. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, but the oldest standing structure on campus is actually Woodbine Cottage. Correct. The former president's home. 
 
[Heidi] 
Good job. That was built in 1887 by, actually, weirdly enough, a president. And then he sold it to the university, where it became, temporarily, a women's dormitory, what they called them back then, and a music hall and then later. 
 
[Dave] 
Oh, I didn't know. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, later on, it became, the president's home for many years until the more modern one was built here in recent history. 
 
[Dave] 
That's right. 
 
[Heidi] 
So fun stuff. I'm proud of you. Look at this. the fourth one. True or false? The Campanile has chimes in it. 
 
[Dave] 
Well defined chimes, right? I mean, there's not bells. 
 
[Heidi] 
It's not. This is not how this goes, Dave. It's true or false. 
 
[Dave] 
OK. I would say let's just say false. 
 
[Heidi] 
Correct. 
 
[Dave] 
OK. 
 
[Heidi] 
False. So many people know that Campanile was originally built with chimes in it or carillon. So that's how it made music, right? In 1995, July 1995, it was replaced with a loudspeaker. 
 
[Dave] 
And that'll be replaced again. 
 
[Heidi] 
As part of this renovation. 
 
[Dave] 
As part of the, I mean, it's not the same team doing that, the restoration that's going to replace the carillon, but it is going to be replaced. So when the Campanile is fully done, done, it'll have a full restoration and a new carillon. 
 
[Heidi] 
Wow. So once upon a time there was like, I don't know if it was a wire or a keyboard or something in this building in Lincoln Hall to make that play. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah, there was, I think, a computer or something that you could program the various songs that it would play. 
 
[Heidi] 
Right? Unreal. Well, I can't wait to hear it again. It's been a while. 
 
[Dave] 
It's coming. I think a lot of people are anticipating that. 
 
[Heidi] 
I'll be rejoicing the day that happens. OK, this next one might be a little bit of a touchy one. Kind of subjective, true or false, facilities workers have said they have seen ghosts or spirits on campus. 
 
[Dave] 
The fact that they have said they have seen them is true, because I have been told that, you know, I like I said, I started here in 2000, so I've been here a while. And at the time, the people who had been here a while when I started, I remember hearing the stories and it was always in reference to Doner. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah. Doner Auditorium. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. In the stories that I was told, again, these are all stories I wouldn't be able to, you know, confirm or deny any of this is that the people would go in there and say the curtains would go up and down on their own. There's no one else, and their lights might turn on or off with nobody else in there. 
 
[Dave] 
I never heard a story personally about somebody seeing a ghost, but those weird anomalies led to some stories. 
 
[Heidi] 
Give me the heebie jeebies. If you ask some older theater personnel on campus or, theater alumni, they probably will give you their two cents about that. Right? 
 
[Dave] 
They spent a lot of time and will probably have more stories. That's right. 
 
[Heidi] 
Exactly. OK. Final one. And this one is kind of my favorite. True or false? Solberg Hall is the oldest current academic building on campus. 
 
[Dave] 
Probably true when you say academic building. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yes, yes, yes, it is true. So, it was built in 1901. And actually, that building has a ton of cool history in it. 
 
[Dave] 
Are you, does I mean that building? I think, my interesting story with Solberg is that Solberg was my academic building that I was taking classes in the mid ’90s, going through the construction management program. And so then when I got to work here about a year and a half or so into my employment here, then the project started to rebuild it. 
 
[Dave] 
Good. And that building was essentially completely gutted in the middle and taken out of the original walls, four walls stood, but everything else in the inside was built brand new. You know, this was 20 years ago now, but it was built brand new at the time, and it is what it is today. 
 
[Heidi] 
So you can see it project truly come full circle. 
 
[Dave] 
Yeah. Absolutely. Yep. Yeah. At the time, I mean even now, that was still a really remarkable project. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yes. Absolutely. So other cool history about Solberg Hall. It's named after, I'm going to probably say this wrong. Halvor Christian Solberg, and he brought mechanical engineering to SDSU, but he apparently was the first person in Brookings to drive a car. Oh, wow. In 1904. 
 
[Dave] 
That's interesting. 
 
[Heidi] 
It's very interesting. He helped design Highway 14, which runs through Brookings, from Winona, Minnesota, to the Black Hills. You know, Highway 14 kind of ends out like Sturgis. Yeah. Right. Area type of thing. Oh, 14A I guess it keeps going. But yeah, he helped design that. And, another interesting fact, Stephen F. Briggs, he built the single cylinder internal combustion gasoline engine here, which would become household name Briggs and Stratton engine. 
 
[Dave] 
That one. I did know the first one I didn't. 
 
[Heidi] 
Yeah, yeah. Apparently, it was like in one of the lower levels is where he, like, came up with the first model and then he left. You know they formed. Yeah. Briggs and Stratton. So, I know I have a Briggs and Stratton engine in my lawnmower. You might just have something in your house, too. 
 
[Dave] 
Yep. 
 
[Heidi] 
Well, if you liked the information, the true and false, statistics and fun facts we had here, you can find that on our website about your favorite campus buildings under our buildings information pages, Campus Tour pages on our website: sdstate.edu. 
 
The Facilities and Services Department works so hard to make sure that campus is inviting, clean, looks good and keeps progressing. When people come to campus, what do you hope their impression is of the campus? 
 
[Dave] 
From our standpoint, certainly. You know, we want the esthetics to be, you know, their first impression to be very good when they just look around and see we want it to be clean, we want it to be well-kept. You know, lawns mowed, fresh paint on things when they see it, you name it. We just want that first impression for the esthetics of the campus to be top notch, so to speak. 
 
[Dave] 
I mean, we all know and we talk about frequently the importance of the campus appearance for recruitment and retention and experience. And we recognize how important that is. And we take a lot of pride in the things that we do. I say this knowing full well that I have projects ongoing right now where we're digging campus up all over, but that's just part of progress. 
 
[Dave] 
You know, we have to keep that going there to keep progress going. But, but yeah, I mean, we just want people to really appreciate what they see, and it makes them take more pride in being an alum or having some connection to the university as well. 
 
[Heidi] 
Absolutely. 
 
[Dave] 
Very important. 
 
[Heidi] 
Always moving forward. 
 
[Dave] 
Always moving forward. 
 
[Heidi] 
That's right. That's a great way to end. Thanks for being here today, Dave. 
 
[Dave] 
Thanks for having me.